Observer

Hand to Heart

We are all one community, and our care and compassion for each other is connected and felt.  During this unusual time, I would like to share with you a new PFOD program called Hands to Heart. This is available to anyone in our community who may need assistance.  This assistance may be for food or staples such as TP, medicines, fluids, including covering the cost and delivery. We want to help, and we have a generous donation strictly directed to help those in need.
Being able to share with the community in need from PFOD is perfect, so thank you for this opportunity.”
Please contact Jane Maskil
Warmly,
Jane

Kalyanamittas in the Time of Covid19

What is it like to give and receive the Dhamma in this time of the coronavirus global pandemic? It’s like this. We Zoom. We make videos for the children. We receive words of encouragement. We receive support from our renters and from our virtual dana bowl.

We Zoom Our Programs

Online programs and workshops hosted by PFOD – Online Monasitcs affiliated with PFoD

Sunday Sila – 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. is now given interactively as a large online group.  The morning includes silent meditations, reflections, and a video chat. Attendance is at or above usual numbers. An audio of the Dhamma Reflections is recorded and will soon be posted to our website and listed under Teachings. Kristen and her daughter have been avid Friends of Dhamma zoomers on Sunday Sila.

“Not being good with technology, for me it’s amazingly easy to click a link and with no effort be taken right into it,” said Kristen. ” I appreciate all the behind-the-scenes work to set up the equipment and send the emails with the link. It means I get to see live people, my friends, my community. Being with everyone is so heartwarming. Also, I like seeing everyone at home with their comfy chairs, cushions, and altars. It feels like we’re all together in this practice. Seeing the names with the faces is like meeting new people.” She added, “I’m glad that people at a distance and those who can’t leave home can also join in.”

Tuesday Reflections – 8:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. is also now online and like always, begins with a guided meditation, a reflection on a practice topic, and, time willing, a group chat to reflect on practice, share our joys and challenges, and or ask questions — all while enjoying each other’s company while snug in our individual homes.

“I am so grateful to Jessica for her support of the Tuesday Reflections folks. Many people have shared with me how happy they feel after having spending their time in contact with this group.” 

Sakula

Friday Investigations – 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. can also be joined online. As with Sunday Sila, these groups begin with a meditation followed by reflections and interactive participation. An added benefit is that Sunday Sila sessions Dhamma reflections are recorded for the Friends of Dhamma Podcast and remain available there for later listening. We are so grateful that members of the community have whole-heartedly stepped forward to help with financial and in-kind support for sound and video equipment and Zoom subscriptions.

“With the onset of the quarantine and PFOD programs being moved online, we have the joy of attending Investigations again, from Bend, OR…sitting together in silence and then sharing Dhamma with our Portland friends has been delightful. Anumodana!
Joan and Scott Benge
 

We Make Video’s for Our Children

The children in our community have a new treat to look forward to. videos on our YouTube channel from Jessica and her family. “Star Meditation” and “I Know You Are But What Am I?” teach activities that children and parents can do together learning skills and values.

And there’s more, for a complete list click here.

We Receive Words of Encouragement

As our community members and teachers step forward to find novel ways of sharing Dhamma with one another during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order, perhaps one of the most heartening gifts are the messages of encouragement from our monastic and lay teachers at a distance. Luang Por Pasanno (กำลังใจจากหลวงพ่อปสันโน)  Ajahn Sudanto, Ayya Santussikā, and several others have sent video, audio, or written messages made specifically for Portland Friends of the Dhamma. We are so grateful for such support from these wonderful teachers.

We Recieve Support from Each Other

We are all one community and our care and compassion for each other is connected and felt.  During this unusual time, I would like to share with you a new PFOD program called Hand to Heart. This is available to anyone in our community who may need assistance.  This assistance may be for food or staples such as TP, medicines, fluids, including covering the cost and delivery. We want to help and we have a generous donation strictly directed to support those in need.

“Being able to share with the community in need from PFOD is perfect, so thank you for this opportunity.” Donor

Warmly,
Jane
Contact: Jane Meskill 

We Recieve Support from Our Renters

Portland Friends of the Dhamma leases space in our Center to three Buddhist organizations and one professional counselor. Knowing our renters would not be able to access the building for two or more months, the Board offered discounts to each. What a lovely surprise we received when some renters chose to pay in full and none requested to break their lease! Bonnie Wilson, our Treasurer, remembers receiving notes, with one of them reading,

This pandemic has made us rethink everything. All our assumptions about the year have been changed.”

She went on to share, 

Because our cash flow is so close to the bone, we were thrilled our renters were able to maintain this level of commitment to us when their income is also at risk. I can’t tell you how humbling and heartwarming is was to see those checks come in. It means we are closer to knowing we will be fine.”

And From Our Virtual Dana Bowl

The dana bowl has been part of PFOD since the beginning. Many community members have enjoyed leaving dana after a meditation, class, or workshop. For years PFOD had a simple woven bowl, eventually replaced by a wooden box. Between $500 to $700 a month has been consistently given this way, providing much-needed and deeply appreciated support. Now that all our gatherings are online, our dana bowl has gone online too. You can help us maintain our urban refuge so one day, we can reunite, in the city, in a BIG IN-PERSON Celebration!

What’s Up, Online, and Ready to Zoom!

Join using Zoom

Zoom is an online video meeting system. You don’t need an account.
You can join either with video (of yourself) or just audio.

Programs

Sunday Sila – Sunday morning meditation, reflection, and check-in
Led by Sakula

10:00 – 10:45 Meditation and five-minute break
10:45 – 11:15 Dhamma Reflections (video not recorded, reflections recorded for podcast)
11:15 – 11:30 Dialogue, Q n’ A (not recorded) – this session may go longer if folks wish to stay
Contact us for login info

Reflections – Tuesday night meditation, reflection, and check-in
Led by Jessica Swanson

Time: 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Meditation, Reflections, and Voluntary Check-in
Contact us for login info

Investigations – Friday night meditation, reflection, and discussion
Led by Matthew Grad

Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
7:00 – 7:45 – Meditation
7:45 – 9:00 – Short Break, Dhamma Reflections, and Discussion
Contact us for login info

Family and Kids Program – Tutorials and handouts for family-friendly Buddhist activities
Led by Jessica Swanson
Join the Family & Kids subgroup for information and links
Contact Jessica if you have any questions

Virtually Bookish – An eight-week Buddhist book group
Led by Ruby Grad

Every Other Saturday from April 18th – July 25th
Time:  12:00 noon – 2:30  Pacific Time
Contact Ruby if you have any questions
Contact us for login info

A Sew Mindful Workshop – A workshop sewing masks for family and community
Hosted by Sakula and Charla Chamberlain

Saturday, April 25th
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Contact us for Zoom log in info and/or to request future sew-a-longs

Support

Home Retreat, a Guide for 1 to 10-day self-retreats
Written and supported by Matthew Grad
Guide

Hand to Heart – A PFoD Food Bank
Please contact if you are in need of any help to pay for and/or delivering food or medicines
Contact person: Jane Maskill

Sangha Helpline
Steve has offered to build a contact list of members of the sangha who would like to offer help to others in their neighborhoods during this covid19 crisis.
Visit Sangha Helpline
Contact Steve Diamond if you have any questions

Encouraging Words

Messages to our community from our extended Dhamma family of visiting teachers
Click here to view video and written messages

 

All in the Family – Monastic Online Offerings

Encouraging Words
Messages to our community from our extended Dhamma family of visiting teachers
Click here to view video and written messages.

Abhayagiri
Live Stream – Puja’s, Dhamma talks and events
Senior Monastics: Luang Por Pasanno, Ajahn Ñāniko and Ajahn Karunadhammo
Essays by Ajahn Ñāniko
Tales from the 250 Acre Wood: Portraits of Life at Abhayagiri with Ajahn Ñāniko
Support

Amaravati
News and Announcements
This week includes a Live Stream event and recent Dhamma talks by Ajahn Sumedho addressing practice during this pandemic.
Podcasts
Many podcast to choose from
Support

Birkin
Mindfulness in the Time of Pandemic: Online Retreat
May 1–10  Open to Everybody
Teachings
Support

Cittaviveka (aka Chithurst)
Dhamma Video Recordings
With Luang Por Sumedho and Luang Por Sucitto
Support

Karuna Buddhist Vihara
Online Sutta Study with Ayya Santussika
Support

Pacific Hermitage
Live Stream
Puja’s with the monastic residents and interactive conversations with Ajahn Sudanto
Support

Wat Metta
Daily recorded Dhamma talks
Ajahn Geoff (Thanissaro) is giving Dhamma talks every evening.
New Essay on Doing Meditation – snippet: “..it involves mastering skills—the skills of meditation—and being clear about what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Only then will you understand action, and only then can you go beyond it.”
Support: The Gift of Dhamma – “For those who want to express gratitude for the teachers’ generosity, the best way is to put the teachings into practice, earnestly―to see for yourself, for your own benefit, and for the benefit of the world.”

Meditators at Work

By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

When the Buddha taught meditation, he would often illustrate his lessons with similes that involved people at work or developing skills. A person engaged in mindfulness of breathing, for example, was like a carpenter turning a piece of wood on a lathe, sensitive to whether he was making a short or a long turn. A person trying to be mindful to discover what would bring the mind to concentration should be like a king’s cook, trying to read the king’s subtle signals as to what kinds of food he did or didn’t like. A person entering and dwelling in the first jhana—the first level of right concentration—was to get pleasure and rapture to suffuse the body, just as a bathman mixing water into a ball of bath-powder would try to get the water to moisten every particle of powder and yet not drip outside the ball.

The Buddha’s similes for the later stages of jhana do suggest less effort—a spring filling a lake with cool waters; lotuses immersed in a lake saturated with still, cool water from their roots to their tips; a man sitting wrapped in a white cloth—but that was simply to convey the point that once rapture and pleasure had been kneaded through the body in the first jhana, the act of spreading them through the body—together with awareness—became much easier as concentration deepened. As MN 111 makes clear, even a person who has entered the highest level of jhana still needs to employ acts of intention, desire, decision, and persistence to stay there. And when the Buddha described using any of the levels of jhana or formless attainments to develop discernment, he reverted to a more active simile: The meditator was now like an archer who has mastered the skills of shooting rapidly, shooting great distances, and piercing great masses with his arrows.

So, given all these similes of work and focused effort, it’s odd that so many modern teachers insist that Buddhist meditation is not a matter of doing, but of simply allowing things to happen on their own. Mindfulness, we’re told, is a purely receptive awareness, allowing things to arise and pass away without interference. Jhana, we’re told, isn’t something you can do. You have to wait and let it happen of its own accord.

But if there were no present effort involved in getting mindfulness or jhana to develop, then these qualities would be either determined by physical laws, determined by your past kamma, the result of the grace of a divine creator, or simply serendipitous: spontaneous events with no discernible cause at all. Yet, as the Buddha made clear in AN 3:62 and DN 2, to believe that present experiences come about purely in any of these four ways would allow no room for a path of practice to the end of suffering to make any sense. There would be nothing you could do in the present moment to choose such a path or to follow it. It would simply happen on its own. If you believe in the possibility of choosing and following a path to the end of suffering, you have to believe that you can make a difference in the present with your present intentions. Otherwise, the path would be impossible.

As the Buddha pointed out, the purpose of meditating is to gain liberating insight into the mind’s activity of fabricating its experience, and the best place to see this activity in action is by watching yourself fabricate qualities of mindfulness, concentration, and discernment right here and now. If, in the course of your meditation, you don’t see yourself doing anything, that doesn’t mean you’re doing nothing. You’re simply blind—or have blinded yourself—to what you’re doing. And when you’re blind, genuine insight won’t have a chance to develop.

This insight into the mind’s activity is where the practice of meditation intersects with the Buddha’s teachings on kamma, or action. As he understood action, your present experience is shaped not only by your past actions, but also—and more fundamentally—by your present ones. And your most important present actions are taking place in the mind. The Buddha never taught his students to place their hopes and trust in their past actions, for that would be defeatist. The focus was always on learning to be skillful right now. This is why Buddhist meditation focuses on the mind’s activities in the present moment.

But, by and large, modern teachers tend to regard the teaching on kamma as irrelevant to meditation. There may be many reasons for this, but three stand out:

  • the belief that complete descriptions of mindfulness practice make no reference to interfering with the arising and passing away of feelings or mind states, which means that mindfulness must be a non-interfering acceptance of whatever arises and passes away;
  • the belief that, because the goal of meditation practice is unfabricated, trying to do anything to reach it will actually get in the way of arriving there; and
  • the belief that meditation should lead to the realization that, on the level of ultimate truth, there’s no one there to begin with, so to believe that you’re making choices as to what to do while meditating would get in the way of that realization.

These beliefs are common in modern meditation circles, but they’re all based on misunderstandings. So it would be good to examine them one by one, comparing them with the facts, to appreciate where they go wrong. That way, we can approach meditation with the conscious understanding that we are doing it, and that we can learn about the nature of action and choice by observing ourselves in the act of trying to do it well.

1. The Belief: Complete descriptions of mindfulness practice make no reference to interfering with the arising and passing away of feelings or mind-states.

The Fact: There are such descriptions in the Pali Canon, but their context shows that they’re not complete.

The two longest discourses on mindfulness—the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta (DN 22) and the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10)—limit their discussion of feelings to a list of various feelings—pleasant, unpleasant, and neither—stating simply that the meditator discerns them as they are present, but there is no mention of doing anything about them. Similarly with mind-states: The same discourses list skillful and unskillful mind-states, stating that the meditator discerns them as they are present, but nothing is said about developing those that are skillful or abandoning those that are not.

But even though the discourses containing these passages are long, they’re not complete descriptions even of the standard short formula for establishing mindfulness. The discourses themselves make this point clear in the way they’re organized.

They start with the standard short formula:

“There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself—ardent, alert, & mindful—subduing greed & distress with reference to the world. He remains focused on feelings… mind… mental qualities in & of themselves—ardent, alert, & mindful—subduing greed & distress with reference to the world.”

But then they pose and answer questions on only part of the formula: what it means to “remain focused” on each of the four frames of reference in and of itself. Among other things, they provide no discussion of how ardency functions in the practice, of what it means to subdue greed and distress with reference to the world, of how the various frames of reference interact in practice, or of what the stages in the practice are. For this information, we have to look at other treatments of these topics found elsewhere in the Canon.

And when we look at MN 118, the discourse on mindfulness of in-and-out breathing, we find that mindfulness of feelings and mind-states involves a great deal more than simply discerning their presence and absence. That discourse lists sixteen steps of breath meditation, divided into four “tetrads,” or sets of four steps each. Each tetrad, it says, develops the short version of the full formula for establishing mindfulness at each of the four frames of reference. The tetrad related to feelings reads,

“He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication [perceptions and feelings].’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out sensitive to mental fabrication.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in calming mental fabrication.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out calming mental fabrication.’”

Here it’s clear that, to develop even just the short version of the full formula for establishing mindfulness of feelings in and of themselves, you have to do a lot more than simply discern feelings as they come and go. Ardency—the effort to give rise to what’s skillful and abandon what’s not—plays a large role. You actively cultivate the feelings of the first jhana, i.e., rapture and pleasure; you become sensitive to how they have an effect on the mind—that’s what being “sensitive to mental fabrication” means—and then you consciously train yourself to calm that effect. In keeping with the descriptions of jhana practice, this would mean bringing the mind to the fourth jhana, where pleasure and pain are replaced with the more calming feeling of equanimity.

Similarly with the tetrad related to mind-states:

“He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in gladdening the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out gladdening the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in steadying the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out steadying the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe in releasing the mind.’ He trains himself, ‘I will breathe out releasing the mind.’”

Even though the first step requires simply that you be sensitive to what’s going on in the mind, the steps don’t stop there. If the mind is sluggish or constricted, you gladden it. If it’s scattered, you steady it. If it’s burdened with unskillful thoughts—or with factors present in the lower jhanas but absent in the higher ones—you release it. Here again, ardency is a dominant part of establishing mindfulness rightly and well.

This means that complete descriptions of mindfulness practice actually do describe actively interfering with the arising and passing away of feelings and mind-states: abandoning unskillful ones and cultivating skillful ones in their place. Now, there are cases where simply watching an unskillful mind-state with equanimity is enough to make it go away, but as MN 101 makes clear, this doesn’t always work. Sometimes when you stare at such a mind-state, it stares right back. In cases like that, you have to exert the activity of fabrication to get rid of it.

All of this is in line with the description of right mindfulness in MN 117: You’re mindful to abandon unskillful states and to develop skillful ones to replace them.

So it’s not true that mindfulness is a non-interfering awareness of things as they arise and pass away. As the Canon defines mindfulness (SN 48:10), it’s a factor of the active memory. What right mindfulness remembers is to do what you can to bring skillful mind-states about, and to protect them when they’re present to keep them from passing away (AN 4:194; AN 4:245). And the similes are right: This often involves work.

2. The Belief: Because the goal of meditation practice is unfabricated, trying to do anything to reach it will actually get in the way of arriving there.

The Fact: The Buddha discovered that causality works in such a way that the act of fabricating a path, even though it can’t cause the unfabricated, leads to its threshold.

The Buddha was always careful to call the practices leading to unbinding a path. In other words, they don’t cause the goal, but they can take you there. One of his most extended similes for the path is of a raft: To get to the far shore of a flooding river, you take twigs and branches on this shore—which stands for the ways in which you create a self-identity—and you bind them together into a raft, which stands for the noble eightfold path. Then, in dependence on the raft and making an effort with your hands and feet—this stands for persistence—you make your way across the flood to the far shore of unbinding (SN 35:197).

In other words, the raft doesn’t cause the further shore, and making effort with your hands and feet doesn’t get in the way of reaching the further shore. In fact, if you don’t make an effort, you’ll be swept down the flood of sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance.

Now, it’s possible to argue that this simile is inadequate. And, in one important way, it is: The far shore to any river is fabricated, whereas unbinding is not. However, the Buddha acknowledges that fact, even while keeping the simile of crossing the river. In SN 1:1, a deva asks him how he crossed over the flood, and he responds that he did so by neither pushing forward nor staying in place. The deva is confused—the Buddha’s riddle may have been intended to humble her pride—but the riddle is more than just a rhetorical trick. It indicates that there’s a point in the practice where you have to abandon the dichotomy of staying where you are and making the effort to go someplace else. That’s where the opening to unbinding comes. But the fact is, you can’t reach that point without first having made the effort to get there.

A more modern simile is that of a complex non-linear system, such as the gravitational relationships among Saturn, its moons, and its rings. In simple, linear systems, A causes B, B causes C, and so on. Sometimes there may be a feedback loop or two, in which C turns around and influences A. But the causal principle is fairly straightforward. As long as you keep acting within such a system, you maintain the system and stay in it. The only way to get out would be if a force from outside the system came to knock it off kilter.

However, in a complex non-linear system, there are so many feedback loops that they can interact in unpredictable ways—not because the math gets too hard to calculate, but because the math itself starts playing tricks.

One of these tricks is that the laws governing the system can be manipulated, not to maintain the system, but to get out of it. Escape doesn’t require something coming from outside the system. It can come through following the laws within the system itself.

This, for example, is why there are gaps in the rings of Saturn. Any ice ball in the ring that wanders into the gaps is soon ejected because the equation describing its trajectory—influenced by the gravity of Saturn combined with the gravity of one or more of its moons—contains a number (any number aside from zero) divided by zero. This makes the ice ball’s trajectory undefined, and that puts it out of the system. The ice ball escapes, not because it defies gravity, but because gravity has brought it into a spot where the laws of gravity allow it out.

The Buddha never discussed complex non-linear systems or used them as similes, but he did say that the results of action are so complex that they’re inconceivable (AN 4:77). This means, of course, that his vision of action was not of a simple system. Actions and their results interact in many complex ways. And his most detailed description of the actions leading to suffering—dependent co-arising—contains many feedback loops.

But rather than get into all the details of how these factors interact, he focused on the practical opportunity they provide. Unlike ice balls, he didn’t get out of the laws governing fabrication because he was compelled to. He intentionally made an effort to find the spots in the system of intentional action where the laws within the system allow for escape from intentional action: what he called the kamma that puts an end to kamma (AN 4:237). And what he found was that the factors by which we define ourselves—the aggregates—could be manipulated to bring the mind to the point of neither moving nor staying in place, where it would no longer be defined. That would be its release.

So it’s important that we not let simplistic ideas of causality prevent us from taking advantage of the Buddha’s insight: It is possible to use the twigs and branches of our minds to reach an undefined, unfabricated goal—but we can’t get to the moment of non-definition simply by embracing the twigs and branches or by doing nothing. We have to make an effort to find it.

3. The Belief: Meditation should lead to the realization that, on the level of ultimate truth, there’s no one there to begin with, so to believe that you’re making choices as to what to do while meditating would get in the way of that realization.

The Fact: The Buddha never taught that there’s no one there.

One of the biggest misunderstandings in the Buddhist tradition—dating back millennia—is that the Buddha taught two levels of truth: conventional truth, in which beings and individuals exist; and ultimate truth, in which beings and individuals don’t exist and never have.

This is a mistake on two counts. First, the post-Canonical position on conventional truths—which postdates the Buddha by many centuries—is that conventional truths are skillful means: statements that help some people get on the path even though, on the ultimate level, such statements are false. Because the Buddha talked about individuals existing and selves depending on themselves, this would mean that some of the Buddha’s teachings were useful fictions—beneficial even though they weren’t really true. This, however, violates the Buddha’s own observation on what he would and wouldn’t say. Only if something was true, beneficial, and timely would he say it. When he set out a table of types of speech, the possibility that something would be false but beneficial didn’t even make it on the table. This means that as far as he was concerned, such statements didn’t even exist (MN 58).

Second, the Buddha never said that beings don’t exist. When asked to define what a being is, he didn’t say that, on the ultimate level, there are no beings. Instead, he gave a straightforward answer: “Any desire, passion, delight, or craving for form… feeling… perception… fabrications…consciousness: When one is caught up [satta] there, tied up [visatta] there, one is said to be ‘a being [satta].’” (SN 23:2)

In other words, the Buddha defined beings as processes—and processes exist (SN 22:94). He also noted how those processes take rebirth: When a being has set one body aside and has yet to be born in another one, it’s sustained by craving (SN 44:9). And he noted that all beings have one thing in common: They depend on nutriment, which is the same as saying that they all suffer (Khp 4).

But as he pointed out, it’s not necessary to keep on identifying as a being. If you can develop dispassion for any craving for form, feeling, perception, fabrications, and consciousness, then you’re freed from being a being (SN 23:2). And he discovered further that, in doing so, you don’t go out of existence. Instead, you’re now immeasurable—so immeasurable that labels of existing, not existing, both, or neither, don’t even apply (SN 44:1).

So the purpose of meditation is not to discover that you aren’t a being and never have been. Instead, it’s to show you how you’ve been defining yourself as a being through your attachments, and how you can find freedom through putting those attachments—your identity as a being—aside (SN 22:36).

Now, as the simile of the raft suggests, and SN 51:15 and AN 9:36 state clearly, this will involve using the raw materials of your identity—your desires and attachments, along with their objects, such as form, feeling, perception, fabrications, and consciousness—to bring about the end of desire and attachment, so that you’re no longer limited to identifying yourself as a being. But that simply shows the Buddha’s skill as a strategist, seeing how to cross over the river by going from one attachment to more subtle attachments, and then finally putting all attachments aside. In the words of Ven. Ānanda, “It’s amazing, lord. It’s astounding. For truly, the Blessed One has declared to us the way to cross over the flood by going from one support to the next” (MN 106).

What this means in practical terms is that it is possible to make choices and to act in the present—to do the meditation—without blocking the insight to which the meditation leads: how to free yourself from having to identify as a being.

So when we look at the Buddha’s instructions on mindfulness in their entirety, we can see that there’s no reason to regard meditation as an exercise in making no choices and doing nothing at all. And when we understand the relationship of the path to the goal and the lessons learned on reaching the goal, there’s no reason—up until the very last steps of the path—to insist that an attitude of doing mindfulness or jhāna will get in the way of the goal. In fact, as the Buddha’s similes suggest, these forms of meditation are very much things you do.

This means that there’s every reason to take the Buddha’s active similes for meditation seriously, and to take seriously his statement that the noble eightfold path—including right mindfulness and right concentration—is a type of kamma: the kamma leading to the ending of kamma (AN 4:237). This kamma is not a matter of doing nothing or of denying what you’re doing. Instead, it involves mastering skills—the skills of meditation—and being clear about what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Only then will you understand action, and only then can you go beyond it.

The goal can’t be reached in any other way.

การเฉลิมฉลองความกรุณาแด่สถานปฏิบัติธรรมพอร์ตแลนด์

การเฉลิมฉลองความกรุณาแด่สถานปฏิบัติธรรมพอร์ตแลนด์ 

23-24 พฤษภาคม 2563

สถานปฏิบัติธรรมพอร์ตแลนด์ ยินดีที่จะแจ้งให้ทราบว่าหลวงพ่อภาสะโนเจ้าอาวาส Abhaygiyi Monastery จะเดินทางมาร่วมฉลอง การครบรอบ 20 ปี ของสถานปฏิบัติธรรมพอร์ตแลนด์ 

จุดหมายที่สำคัญของการร่วมฉลองครั้งนี้ก็เพื่อจะได้ร่วมแสดงความขอบคุณแด่ท่านเจ้าภาพท่านหนึ่ง

ที่กรุณาร่วมบริจาคปัจจัย เพื่อเป็นค่าใช้จ่ายสำหรับค่าผ่อนประจำเดือน ของสถานปฏิบัติธรรม

สถานปฏิบัติธรรมพอร์ตแลนด์ขอเรียนเชิญท่านทั้งหลายมาร่วมนั่งวิปัสสนาในวันที่ 23 พฤษภาคม 2563 และร่วมรับประทานอาหาร pot luck ในวันที่ 24 พฤษภาคม เพื่อฉลอง ความเมตตา ในการบริจาค ที่สำคัญครั้งนี้

งานนี้เสำหรับบุคคลทั่วไปและครอบครัว การดำเนินงานในวันนั้นเป็นภาษาไทยและภาษาอังกฤษ

Gratitude for Refuge in the City  May 23 & 24, 2020

Portland Friends of the Dhamma is delighted to announce that Luang Por Pasanno, Guiding Elder of Abhayagiri Monastery, will be joining us for our 20th anniversary celebration. 

In particular, we are celebrating a remarkable offer of generosity: a supporter has offered funds to begin to pay down the mortgage for our building. Luang Por has accepted our invitation to come in support of our center and to help us receive this gift. 

Please join us Saturday, May 23 for a meditation retreat, and Sunday, May 24 for a potluck, and gratitude celebration. This is a family oriented event. All are welcome. The weekend will be offered in Thai and English.

Medhanandi Bhikkhuni to visit Friends of the Dhamma, Thursday, May 21, 2020

 We are excited and honored to welcome Medhanandi Bhikkhuni, the founder and guiding teacher of Sati Saraniya Hermitage, a training monastery near Perth, Ontario, Canada, to Portland Friends of the Dhamma for the first time. Ayya Medhanandi will join us for an evening of meditation and teaching on Thursday May 21, adjacent to her session at Cloud Mountain retreat center.

Ayya Medhanandi has been described as a gem whose teaching is of great clarity. All are welcome.

Gatherings are offered by dana (donation). If you have the means, whatever you are inspired to give is gratefully accepted.

Further information is at pdxdhamma.org. Her teachings may be found here.


Thursday, May 21, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Meditation and Dhamma Reflections


ขอเชิญร่วมศึกษาและปฏิบัติธรรมก้บแม่ชีเมตตานันท์

ขอเชิญร่วมศึกษาและปฏิบัติธรรมก้บแม่ชีเมตตานันท์

 สถานปฏิบัติธรรมพอร์ตแลนด์มีความยินดีอย่างยิ่งที่จะได้ต้อนรับแม่ชีเมตตานันท์ ผู้ก่อตั้ง Sati Saraniya Hermitage ซึ่งเป็นสถานปฏิบัติธรรมใกล้เมืองเพิร์ธในรัฐออนตาริโอประเทศแคนาดา

ในวันพฤหัสบดีที่ 21 พฤษภาคม แม่ชีเมตตานันท์ จะสอนธรรมะและวิปัสสนาที่สถานปฏิบัติธรรม Cloud Mountain

แม่ชีเมตตานันท์ ได้รับความนับถืออย่างมากในการสอนที่ชัดเจน

ขอเรียนเชิญทุกท่านที่มีความสนใจร่วมปฏิบัติธรรมในครั้งนี้ ท่านสามารถบริจาคปัจจัยได้ตามศรัทธาในการร่วมทำบุญ

สามารถเปิดอ่านรายละเอียดได้ที่ pdxdhamma.org 

คำสอนของท่านสามารถอ่านได้ที่ลิงค์


วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 21 พฤษภาคม 2563 เวลา 19:00 น ถึง 21:00 น ฟังธรรมะและนั่งวิปัสสนา


Santussikā Bhikkhuni Weekend of Practice and Teaching

We are delighted to welcome back Santussikā Bhikkhuni to Portland Friends of the Dhamma for a weekend of conversation, meditation, teaching, and meal offerings March 6-8, 2020. 

Ayya Santussikā teaches directly from the suttas giving them focus and relevance in daily life. Her sutta study group at Karuna Vihara is famously popular. We were so engaged by her teaching and warmth last year that we encourage you to hear her. She will be accompanied by Cittānandā Bhikkhuni. Both reside at Karuna Vihara in the Bay area. All are welcome.

Gatherings are offered by dana (donation). If you have the means, whatever you are inspired to give is gratefully accepted.

Further information is at pdxdhamma.org.  Her teachings may be found here.


Friday, March 6, 5:30 p.m. – 6:40 p.m.: Tea and conversation, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Meditation and Dhamma Reflections

Saturday, March 7, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Daylong with potluck meal offering (no late arrivals)

Sunday Sila, March 8: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – followed with a meal-offering and casual conversation